says it all about Salam Pax. Now just for full disclosure, let me say that I never cared much for Salam. He’s too pat. He’s too smug. He’s got too much “if you’d just left us along a bit longer and not dropped all those bombs on us, we would eventually have taken care of Saddam.” Of course, he’s also full of shit; I’ve only ever linked him once, and that was because he said something at the beginning of the war that was relevant. And I haven’t read him in months because I quickly tired of his sanctimonious bullshit.
Anyway, Lileks has it exactly right.
Finally: the Guardian ran letters welcoming Bush to Britain. Everyone piled on stupid old Harry Pinter, but I didnt see anyone note this contribution from blogosphere star Salam Pax:
I hate to wake you up from that dream you are having, the one in which you are a superhero bringing democracy and freedom to underdeveloped, oppressed countries. But you really need to check things out in one of the countries you have recently bombed to freedom. Georgie, I am kind of worried that things are going a bit bad in Iraq and you don’t seem to care that much. You might want it to appear as if things are going well and sign Iraq off as a job well done, but I am afraid this is not the case.
Listen, habibi, it is not over yet. Let me explain this in simple terms. You have spilled a glass full of tomato juice on an already dirty carpet and now you have to clean up the whole room. Not all of the mess is your fault but you volunteered to clean it up. I bet if someone had explained it to you like that you would have been less hasty going on our Rambo-in-Baghdad trip.
To tell you the truth, I am glad that someone is doing the cleaning up, and thank you for getting rid of that scary guy with the hideous moustache that we had for president. But I have to say that the advertisements you were dropping from your B52s before the bombs fell promised a much more efficient and speedy service.Hey, Salam? Fuck you. I know youre the famous giggly blogger who gave us all a riveting view of the inner circle before the war, and thus know more about the situation than I do. Granted. But theres a picture on the front page of my local paper today: third Minnesotan killed in Iraq. He died doing what you never had the stones to do: pick up a rifle and face the Baathists. You owe him.
Let me explain this in simple terms, habibi. You would have spent the rest of your life under Baathist rule. You might have gotten some nice architectural commissions to do a house for someone whose aroma was temporarily acceptable to the Tikriti mob. You might have worked your international connections, made it back to Vienna, lived a comfy exiles life. Whats certain is that none of your pals would ever have gotten rid of that scary guy without the hideous moustache (as if his greatest sin was somehow a fashion faux pas) and the Saddam regime would have prospered into the next generation precisely because of people like you. People who would rather have lived their life in low-level fear than change your situation. I understand; I would have done the same. Im not brave enough to start a revolution. I wouldnt have grabbed a gun and charged a palace. I would lived like you. Head down, eyes wary. When the mans too strong, the mans too strong. But let me quote from a Guardian story on your life:
Like all Iraqis, Salam was familiar with the dangers. At least four of his relatives had gone missing. In the past year, for no apparent reason, one of his friends was summarily executed, shot in the head as he sat in his car, and two others were arrested; one was later freed and another, a close friend, has never returned.
The rug was soaked before we got there, friend. Cut the clever café pose; drop the sneer. That Rambo crap is old. Iraq needs grown-ups. Be one.
Yep.